Piper, configure your Logitech G502 Hero mouse

Several months ago I bought a Logitech Hero 502 mouse on sale ($49.99CDN was $99.99) at Canada Computers. Recently I discovered Piper, a program that provides a graphical way to configure the Logitech Hero 502, and several other Logitech (and a few other brands of) mice. For a full list of Piper supported mice see the libratbag list of devices here: https://github.com/libratbag/libratbag/tree/master/data/devices. Piper is a graphical front end to libratbag.

Diablo III on Xubuntu 20.04 Linux brief overview

It works, not as good as it does on Windows 10, but it's very playable with some changes. I had to make some changes for to increase performance, but this might not be as much of a factor if you have a better video card.

Here's my /etc/samba/smb.conf file:

#======================= Global Settings =======================

[global]
   workgroup = MEDIA
   client min protocol = NT1
   server min protocol = NT1
   server string = %h server (Samba, Ubuntu)
   security = user
   map to guest = bad user
   name resolve order = bcast host
   log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
   max log size = 1000
   logging = file

#======================= Share Definitions =======================

LIRC is a software package that lets you use common remote control with certain programs like KODI. Ubuntu 18.04 used to use LIRC version 0.9x. LIRC was recently upgraded and the new version is vastly different than the previous version. When LIRC was installed in earlier versions it specifically prompted the administrator to select which remote to use (usually something like Windows Media Centre Edition (MCE) remote). This doesn't happen with the new version, 0.10x, in Ubuntu 20.04. This problem seems to be one that a lot of people have. Here's what worked for me.

Automating a .deb Debian package for Fasteroids

Many versions of Fasteroids ago I made a 3rd download available in the form of a .deb install-able Debian software package. To create the Debian package I followed a tutorial that involved copying a template and editing a number of files manually. Not only is this not the prescribed method for creating Debian packages, but it was a lot of manual work that left room for a lot of editing errors.

A little over 14 years ago I was part of a small group that planned and developed a PHP application. Over the years I've made small changes to the application, but I realized a few years ago that what the application really needed was a complete overhaul. A few people offered to redo the application and one person actually got to the point of making our old code partially work with newer versions of PHP (one of the issues with the application). Ultimately even the best attempts were a band-aid solution to the real problem: the application needs to be simplified and re-written.